K38m down the drain in two days of Malawi Parliament staff strike

During the two days Parliament Secretariat staff  have been on sit-in strike demanding  for a pay , aboutK38.6 million has gone down the drain as members of parliament were being paid for inaction.

The amount that has been wasted in two days (K38.6 million) could provide 50 kilogramme (kg) bags of maize to some 8 500  families which on average comprise six people—meaning that it can benefit around 51 000 people starving due to floods that have ravaged the country, according to daily newspaper The Nation.

Leader of United Democratic Front (UDF) in the House Lucius Banda described the situation as “a pity and costly” to both government and the taxpayer.

Banda bemoaned that the MP were being  “paid for nothing, which is unfair to the ordinary people out there. “

He is quoted by The Nation saying: “Government spends about K100 000 [including allowances] on a single MP a day and if you do the calculations you will agree with what I am saying.”

Based on the K100 000 cost per MP, it means that during the past two days of inaction in the House—K38.6 million has gone down the drain.

Malawi government has  since offered the striking staff 18 percent increment to be paid in arrears from October 2014 and a six percent raise to be effected in July 2015, but backdated to October as well.